End of the Universe
by rosieth
Summary: When the Doctor decides to let the TARDIS choose his destination, he's amused to find himself in rural England. Except it's not the England he left. Something horrible is about to happen unless he, and the bewildered man in the dressing gown can stop it.
1. An Accidental Meeting

"Two weeks. Just two weeks. That's it. If you don't come back for us..."

There was a warning tone in the ginger girl's voice that was indicative of how serious she was.

"Don't worry. Two weeks, then I'll be back."

Was the response from the man wearing the braces and the bow tie.

"Good. That's settled then. Two weeks, Rory and I will meet you back here. Behave yourself Doctor."

The Doctor flashed a childish grin.

"I always behave myself Amy."

Amy slapped him playfully on the arm.

"Liar. Maybe we shouldn't do this, you need someone to keep an eye on you."

The man laughed warmly.

"Amy, Amy, Amy. I've been on my own before believe it or not, I am perfectly capable of staying out of trouble."

She raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, I said capable, not that I actually do."

He stopped smiling when he noticed the look of serious concern on her face.

"Just be careful. Please?"

He placed his hands on her shoulders to emphasise how much he meant what he was about to say.

"I will be careful Amy. I promise. Now you go with Rory, and you have a good time. I'll see you in two weeks."

She nodded as he pulled her close for a hug.

"Two weeks. I'll miss you."

Prying himself free from her grip, the Doctor turned around and entered the TARDIS, give one final farewell before closing the door. It would be easy to simply jump to the end of the two weeks, but this was meant to be a vacation for him as much as it was for his companions, the idea being that the time apart would help Rory and Amy as a couple. So although they would not know the difference, the Doctor felt that he would be cheating. This meant that he had to find something to do that would occupy him for two weeks. But where to go? The only places that were coming to mind were the planets and locations that he had earmarked to take the Ponds to.

Then it occurred to him. A surprise destination trip. He hadn't taken one of those in a while. Having made up his mind, he fiddled with the controls on the dash, setting them to randomise. He grabbed hold of whatever solid surface he could as the ship took him to his unknown destination. With a resounding thud that reverberated throughout the control room, the TARDIS landed. "All right my dear, what have you got for me this time?" He stroked the dash lovingly before bounding over to the doors.

He tried to open the door slowly to prolong the excitement, but his enthusiasm got the better of him and he flung the door open wildly, leaping out without looking and landing in a deep, muddy puddle. Water splashed about him and his trousers were soaked well up above his ankles. Eagerly, his green eyes drank in the surroundings as he tried to determine where his ship had taken him. He was standing in front of a house, well it was probably more accurate to call it a cottage. A neat, well-tended garden lay in front of a white picket fence. Brilliantly green lawn stretched from the other side of the fence up to the dwelling, which itself was a powder blue colour. It was only then that the Doctor noticed the man in the dressing gown, standing at the door with his mouth slightly agape.

"Hello!" The Doctor shouted towards the man. "This is going to sound like a stupid question, but where am I?"

The man didn't answer, apparently too dumbstruck by the stranger with the bow tie to formulate sentences. At that moment, a low rumbling sound broke the otherwise relative peace, and a large truck drove past with the word "Sainbury's" emblazoned on the side.

"I'm in England! All of space and time, and I end up in 21st century England! What are the odds?" He exclaimed happily much to the confusion of the other man.

He was of average build, with dark blue eyes and short blonde hair. Nothing particular special or noteworthy about his appearance, or the way he stood as he stared out of his front door, yet there was a sense of strength and willpower about him. In other words, he was the Doctor's favourite kind of person. The kind of person who was capable of extraordinary deeds but was completely unaware of it. The was something terribly familiar about the man, but nothing specific that the Doctor could put his finger on. So he did what he usually did when there was something he didn't fully understand. He started talking.

"It's rude to stare you know. Mind if I come in? I'm starving. I don't suppose you've got any custard?"

This seemed to jolt the man from his stupor.

"Huh? Oh, yes. Come in, I'll put the kettle on."

Ten minutes later, the Doctor sat clutching a cup of hot sugary water.

"I haven't been able to face tea since I became me,"he explained, although it was clear from the look on the other man's face that he was utterly bewildered. He chose not to mention it though, instead studying the Doctor as though he thought he might suddenly dematerialise right in front of him.

"I'm terribly sorry, I havent' even asked you your name. Here I am, sitting on your sofa, drinking your water, and I don't even know who _you_ are." He sat gazing expectantly at the man who was still clad in his dressing gown.

"I'm Arthur. Arthur Dent."

Instantly the Doctor knew why the name was so familiar. _Arthur Dent_, he mouthed the name silently several times until the alarmed expression on Arthur's face stopped him.

"Nice to meet you Arthur Dent. That's a great name, Arthur Dent. I'm the Doctor."

"A doctor?" Arthur queried.

"_The_ Doctor." He was starting to wonder if confusion was Arthur Dent's default expression.

"The Doctor what?" The Doctor smiled.

"No, just the Doctor." He was met with a frown.

"The Doctor?"

"Hello!" he said cheerfully as he gave a little wave, which caused him to upset hot water all over his lap. He let out a yelp of pain.

"Ouch, that's hot. Hot, hot, hot. Not surprising of course, it's hot water, so one would expect it to be hot. But then hot things aren't necessarily always hot, are they?"

Arthur hesitated. "They're not?"

The Doctor laughed. "Of course not! Think of the fires of Fyore. They burn hot, cold, and wet, all at the same time!" He made flamboyant gestures with his hands to indicate fire burning.

"You can't have wet fire. Or cold fire for that matter. It's impossible," scoffed Arthur.

"Not impossible, just highly improbable. Lots of things are improbable, like turning into a sofa for instance. It's not that it can't happen, it's just that the energies involved are infinitely large, so it makes it very unlikely."

Arthur stared incredulously, not sure if the Doctor was being serious. "You are quite possibly the strangest man I've ever met."

The Doctor grinned widely. "That's me. A strange man. Well, not so much a man as an alien. But strange, most definitely."

Arthur's eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly. "You're an alien?"

The Doctor nodded. "You've got a problem with that?"

"No," Arthur responded, "It's just the two times I met an alien it didn't go very well. One time ended up in me and my friend Ford, who is also an alien, nearly being eaten by some hideous monster. But the first time began with the destruction of my home planet, the Earth."

The Doctor froze. That didn't sound right.

"What? The earth hasn't been destroyed." Arthur gave him a strange look.

"Yes it has. It was demolished to make way from some space hypervelocity expressway or whatever it was they called it." The Doctor shook his head as he tried to suppress the panic that was beginning to rise from the pit of his stomach.

"But this is Earth. Here. Now. England, 21st century." The other man slowly nodded.

"Yes, but this is Earth 2.0. Earth 1.0, where I was born, is gone. Vaporised. Almost a decade ago now." The Doctor was pacing frantically now.

"No. No, it can't be. I left Amy and Rory on Earth, in Moscow, in 2013. It can not be gone." There was visible frustration on Arthur's face and it carried through into his tone.

"Yes, it can, and it is. I saw it happen. Wait, did you say 2013? But it's 2011."

The Doctor dismissed the last comment with a wave of his hand. "I have a time machine, not important." He opened his mouth to continue speaking but was interupted by a stunned Arthur.

"You've got a _time machine?_" There was impatience in the Doctor's voice now.

"Yes, yes, time machine, that's how I got here, and I assume the noise of her landing was what drew you to your front door. As I said, not important. What is important is that we have a problem. If Earth is really gone, then where have I left Rory and Amy?"


	2. An Alternate Universe

The Doctor sprinted awkwardly towards the TARDIS, which he had left parked at the end of the driveway.  
"Doctor! Doctor! Where are you going?"

Arthur came dashing out of the house after him, stumbling awkwardly on his slippers. The Doctor simply ignored him, smashing into the door as in his haste to get inside he had forgotten that he had locked it.

"What are you doing? It's just a box."

But the Doctor was already inside and at the control panel, looking at the readings on the moving display.

"Doctor?"  
Arthur called from just outside the door.  
"Doc- why is it echoing like that? Doctor? Oh..."

His voice broke off as he pushed open the door to reveal the control room inside.  
"It's -"

"-bigger on the inside than on the outside, yep. Another dimension. But these readings, they're strange. It's almost like...but it can't be."  
Arthur took a single step inside, as though he believed the whole thing to be a hoax and that he was about to come up against an invisible barrier, or a computer screen, or the back of the police box.

"It can't be what? What is it?"  
The Doctor stopped fiddling with the various instruments on the central column and turned to face Arthur.

"This is an alternate universe. I'm not supposed to be get here."

Whatever it was Arthur had thought the Doctor might say, it clearly wasn't that. His jaw went slack with shock, his eyes widening in an almost comic fashion.

"An alternate universe? They really exist?"

The Doctor nodded.

"Yes. But they are supposed to be sealed off. Travel between them is not supposed to happen. It can't happen. Which means there is a gap, a tear or a weak point between a point in your universe and a point in mine. But why? What caused it?"

Arthur was doing his best to keep up, and the Doctor had to admit, that he was doing a fairly good job.

"A tear? Where?"

The Doctor walked passed Arthur and exited the TARDIS, the other man following closely behind.  
"I'm not sure. It could be anywhere."

The human was clearly not impressed by the lack of certainty.

"Great. That's great. What are you doing? What is that?"

Arthur was indicating to the bulky metallic object in the Doctor's hand.  
"Sonic screwdriver. And I'm taking readings. Trying to get a hold of what stuff this universe is made of."

A glimmer of recognition passed over Arthur's face, but almost as soon as it had appeared it was gone.

"Isn't every universe made of the same stuff?"

The Doctor looked geniunely caught off guard by the question.

"No. Why would it be?"

Arthur didn't seem to have an answer to this.  
"Um...oh. Right. So is this universe's...stuff the same as yours?"

The Doctor held the screwdriver in front of his face, gazing at a small digital panel on it's side.  
"No."

Arthur's eyebrows shot up.  
"No?"  
"No. Which is very not good news."

The Doctor resumed his apparently random waving about of the screwdriver.  
"Why is it very not good?"

He examined the display again, decided that the readings were accurate and pocketed the screwdriver before facing Arthur directly.  
"Last time I came across an alternate universe, the physical laws were identical. But not this time."

Arthur's face was serious and he was obviously concentrating very hard on what the Doctor was saying.  
"What do you mean? Gravity is different?"  
"Well, yes. But not because of any intrinsic property of the matter in your universe as such, and not just the visible matter. It's an extrinsic property, of visible matter, dark matter, in, out, and raw matter."

As he spoke, the Doctor's hands were flailing wildly about his person, and he started to bounce up on the balls of his feet.

"In matter?"

As though unable to stand still any longer, the Doctor began to pace back and forth in front of Arthur.  
"Yes, in matter. As I was saying, it isn't the structure that's different, it's the energies that are. Dark energy, light energy, cold energy, warm energy. It's all different here. Which then alters the way that matter interacts. Which means I shouldn't be here for too long."  
"Why not?"

The Doctor stopped, scrutinising Arthur as though he was trying to read his thoughts. He leaned in close, squinting slightly as he gazed directly into the dark blue eyes.  
"Because if I stay here for too long, the difference in the fundamental energies of the matter in my body and the alternate gravity, electromagnetism, and other critical forces will tear my body apart. And if it doesn't tear my body apart, it will start tearing everything around me apart. Similarly, everything near the tear will start to disintigrate, and then everything around it, until the fabric of the universes themselves will be unable to hold itself together against the upsetting alien energies and will cease to exist, vanishing into the time vortex."

With the last sentence the Doctor had once again began to pace, much faster and more vigorously than before, as his voice grew thick with excitement.

"So you're saying if we don't find and repair this gap..."

A look of realisation was slowly dawning on Arthur's face.

"Both my universe and your universe will collapse into a singularity and disappear. Yes."

A sideways grin etched itself across the Doctor's face, an appearance of genuine enjoyment mixed with a ghost of fear.  
"Oh."

The fear on Arthur's face was not a ghost, but pure and unrestrained. The Doctor was nodding encouragingly, as a teacher would to a student who was getting everything correct.  
"Big oh. Oh. _Oh!"_

He clapped his hands together and rubbed them gleefully as his pacing increased further still in speed._  
_"What?"

This time the Doctor did not stop, but continued his frenetic movements.  
"The tear."

The curiousity was bursting out of Arthur now and he was leaning slightly forward as a subconscious indicator of how badly he wanted to know what was going on.  
"The tear?"  
"Around it! The space around it Arthur! Don't you see? If we can find the part of your universe that is disintigrating, we can find the tear!"

As he spoke, the Doctor turned in circles, his arms waving about above his head as a way of emphasising the word 'around'.  
"Oh. Well that should be simple. After all, the universe is tiny and all that."

The sarcasm was bitter and sharp, and alerted the Doctor to the major problem in finding the tear. The vastness of space.  
"Good point. I need some time to think."

And without another word, the Doctor crossed the lawn and went back inside Arthur's small house.

* * *

For the next hour the Doctor sat on the sofa, fiddling with his sonic as though it might suddenly change the readings he was getting and tell him everything he had ever wanted to know. Arthur sat silently watching him, attempting to comprehend what he had just been told and wondering why, oh why, did these things always happen to him? Yet again, he had thought that maybe, just maybe, he had a fairly decent grasp on what his place in things were, just to have it completely shattered by an alien. Finally, unable to take the silence and the self reflection that came with it, he turned the TV on. It was a news bulletin, the words _Breaking News: Cardiff, _screaming at him from the bottom of the screen. A female news presenter with the curliest blonde hair Arthur had ever seen was on for a moment before it cut to footage of a location that Arthur could not recognise.  
_At around 3pm this afternoon, a large section of Cardiff, Wales disappeared. This is untouched footage of the aftermath. _The Doctor was leaning forward in his seat, his face eager and keen. _As you can see, most of the centre of the city has gone. This is not a hoax. Those are the outer suburbs of Cardiff, once up to 20 minutes drive from each other, now neighbours. Where the inner city has gone, and how, remains a mystery. This is the...  
_A smile had spread across the Doctor's face and settled there._  
_"Arthur Dent, I think we've found the tear." 


End file.
